Saturday, March 17, 2012

The annual buzz has been in the air this past week with the kick-off of the SXSW (South By SouthWest) Music, Film & Interactive Conference down there in Austin, TX. Playing host to tens of thousands of participants and attendees from across the globe, this yearly happening draws the hippest, most influential, innovative and geekiest crowds imaginable for 10 days straight.

So far, we've watched a live stream of one of the trendiest techie competitions for Startups, the Start-up Bus competition, where teams from across the U.S. rode busses down to Austin while planning their pitches for their apps and their luck at a big break! We're also checking in with the daily 3-Minute video updates, salivating over all of the eats at those cool parties and wishing we were sitting in one of the groovy lounges quarreling over power sources for our technology. Sounds fun right?!

But for now, we've settled for living vicariously and virtually through friends (Woot-Woot Happstr!) and colleagues that are down yonder and of course, through Twitter, which is on fire with updates! And, we're swearing off staying back in California next year and are already making plans and strategizing about 2013. So, count.us.in SXSW! We're a comin' next year. That, you can bet on.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Feeling like a proud pseudo-mama right now as I'm watching the play-by-play media coverage of a dear friend's son on an adventure of a lifetime. Nate Cooper, (who I've shared many pizzas with over the years), is the founder of the hottest and happiest mobile app HAPPSTR. Being developed on board a bus as I type, this young hipster and team of 'buspreneurs' has already been written up on Mashable, Fox Business and Bloomberg Businessweek Lifestyle section for his obsession on the delight and good moods of peeps around the globe.

This geek-festival-on-wheels and hackathon, has been en route from New York City to Austin, Texas on the 2012 Startup Bus Project for the past few days heading to the SXSW Annual Film, Music & Interactive Conference. Happstr's mission? To understand, track and analyze happiness with the single tap of your mouse or mobile screen along with a simple phrase describing your state of happiness. Plus, their NYC Startup Bus just got themselves into the finals which, allows them to pitch their entrepreneurial ideas to investors at the SXSW Technology Conference. Woot! Woot!

I mean really, can you imagine with all the negativity that we're surrounded by on a daily basis, that a group of innovative techies are actually wanting to track our happiness? Brilliant I say!

And to Nate, whom was connected at the hip to his family computer each and every day growing up, I say a resounding AWESOME! You go and follow your dreams with a huge dose of happiness. In the meantime, I'm hitting your website up again with my current happy statement about 'What makes you happy?' - "Nate Cooper making a happy difference in this world!"... that's what makes me happy!

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Welcome to the Modern Day Films blog and a behind-the-scenes peek at our multimedia production company. Sometimes educational, often inspirational, and typically entertaining, we invite you to join us on our digital journey. So, pack your bags and come along. What are you waiting for?